ESPN Releases the Men's T20I XI of the Last 25 Years

After releasing the ODI XI and Test XI of the last 25 years, ESPN has come up with the best T20I side.

The team comprises three Indian, two Pakistan, a Sri Lankan, a Kiwi, a South African and one Afghanistan player.

ESPN jury consists of former Australian captain Ian Chappell, former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar. Furthermore, former Indian coach John Wright, former Sri Lankan coach, Dav Whatmore and commentator Mark Nicholas are also part of the jury.

The ESPN T20I side consists of swashbuckling players.

Openers: Chris Gayle and Rohit Sharma

Chris Gayle and Rohit Sharma will open the innings for the ESPN side. Gayle has scored 1589 runs at a strike rate of 145.37 in the 53 matches. Gayle is the king of T20 cricket, as he has overall scored more than 10,000 runs in the shortest format of the game.

Rohit Sharma has scored 1647 runs in the T20I format. Furthermore, the flamboyant batsman has scored the joint-fastest century in the T20I form which came off just 35 balls.

Middle Order

Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, former South African batsman AB de Villiers and former New Zealand skipper, Brendon McCullum constitute the middle-order. Thus, the middle comprises three Royal Challengers Bangalore players.

Virat has almost 2000 runs (1956 runs to be exact) in the shortest format, and the right-hander is super consistent with his performances. AB de Villiers has also made the cut, as he had the skills to change the complexion of the game in any format. AB scored 1672 runs for the Proteas in T20I. Brendon McCullum who has more than 2000 T20I runs bats at the number five position.

Lower Order

MS Dhoni bats at the number six position. The former Indian captain is also the captain of the side. The gloveman has scored 1364 runs in the T20I version.

Shahid Afridi takes the seventh place in the ESPN T20I side. Afridi had scored 1405 runs in the T20I format. Moreover, Afridi took 97 wickets in the 98 matches.

Bowlers

Dwayne Bravo also made the cut into the ESPN T20I side. Bravo has scalped 52 wickets in 66 matches. Furthermore, Windies all-rounder has scored 1142 runs.

Rashid Khan also makes the elite list of ESPN. The Afghanistan leg-spin sensation has taken 42 wickets in the 27 matches. Umar Gul could find his place in the ESPN side as well. Gul scalped 85 wickets in the 60 games played.

Lasith Malinga is included in the final XI. The yorker master took 90 scalps in the 68 matches.

Here is the ESPN T20I XI side: Chris Gayle, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Brendon McCullum, MS Dhoni (c), Shahid Afridi, Dwayne Bravo, Rashid Khan, Umar Gul, Lasith Malinga.